Rainbow Stockings
by wowcute
Summary: Jily AU. All of the marauders are in different houses. Lily Evans is obsessed with James Potter, but he never seems to notice her. (Not even when her hair was set on fire by Peter Pettigrew). But that can all change because of Sirius Black and his passable potion skills.
1. Sly as a snake

**Before I start this story I would like to mention a few things. Firstly, I deleted That Summer. It's horrible, but writing it became a chore and I didn't feel that it was up to my standards, then I lost the file and that became my excuse for not continuing it. I just about finished this one (Rainbow Stockings) so that will ****_not _****happen again, but to all of you who supported me through That Summer, I'm very sorry and I wanted to say thank you. Also, if you're very interested, you can PM me and I'll send you the epilogue which I have had written since before it was posted. Secondly, Rainbow Stockings was mainly a joke for me to write when school was stressing me out and it had a very jokey tone, but towards the end it completely changed and I wasn't making quite as many jokes and everything was rather serious, but I love the way it turned out and I hope you do as well. Anyway. enjoy.**

**Chapter 1- Sly as a snake**

Lily Evans positively fancied James Potter. She had ever since first year when she saw his hair. It was certainly an irrational thing to base a fancy off of, but she didn't want to date him, oh, no, she only wanted a snog or maybe something more.

James Potter was practically indifferent to her, it was maddening. What did it matter that they had barely spoken ten words to each other in the six years that they had known one another? But that was not the point. The point was that James Potter had never cast his hazel eyes in her direction. Not once. Not even that one time that she accidentally lit her hair on fire.

Almost everyone at Hogwarts knew of her obsession except for him. He was so smart yet somehow so incredibly daft at the same time. It was frustrating and Lily found that she was spending an unhealthy amount of time staring at him. She found herself wanting some awkward eye contact because at least that was something. But despite all of her efforts to get into his trousers, he seemed oblivious to her existence.

Lily continued her walk down the corridors. She didn't particularly have anywhere to go, but the Gryffindor party wasn't starting for another few hours and she didn't want to be in the common room during the setting up stage. Last time a bottle of firewhiskey had been dropped on her foot, it was a minor injury for Madam Pomfrey to fix, but nonetheless Lily vowed to never be on the decorating committee ever again. And true to her word she had stayed as far away from the Gryffindor common room as possible.

"Ah, it's dear Evans!" Her head snapped up, meeting the amused gaze of Sirius Black. His green and silver tie hung loosely around his neck and he walked with the easy grace of all the pureblood's that Lily had seen.

Lily knew some things about Sirius Black, three things to be exact, it may not have been much, but it was more than most others could say.

1) He wasn't like most pureblood's. He was much more tolerant of girls than everyone else in his house.

2) He didn't have friends. He wasn't the type. He was the kind of boy who was in everyone's business, but made sure you kept your nose out of his. He belonged everyone, yet nowhere.

3) He hated his parents. That was the information Lily had learned through careful prying and a bit of spying on her part. It was more than the typical teen angst, he genuinely wanted to escape from them. He had never openly showed support for Voldemort and maybe that was why his parents were so bitter.

"Yes, or so I've been told." They weren't friends, Sirius didn't have friends, as previously stated. He mostly spoke with her when he was bored or when there wasn't anyone around. The Slytherin's would have his head if he was talking to her without throwing one hex.

He smirked. "You've always been the clever one, pity you weren't sorted into Ravenclaw."

"Of course, I'm a valuable asset." Lily grinned, while Sirius was quite sarcastic with her, she treated him like a mate because she had grown fond of the Slytherin who didn't seem to belong in that house. "Of course, you ought to have been a Gryffindor."

His cocky smirk faltered. "Oh, I don't know about that. It's very fitting that I'm a snake."

She tilted her head, he thought she didn't know. Well, to be fair she shouldn't know. She was never really supposed to find out that Sirius Black had practically begged to be placed into Slytherin, that he thought he would have the best chance there. Lily really only found out when she read his journal. He had dropped it in defense against the dark arts, he had never seemed like the type to keep a journal, but the pages were stained with sprawling letters that had to be Sirius's handwriting. She shouldn't have read it, but she never claimed to be a saint.

"I suppose." Lily replied. "But you also would have fit as a lion."

He shrugged. "Well, I am quite sneaky."

"What do you mean?" Lily snorted. "You've never done anything remotely sly."

"Oh, really? I put a lust potion in the firewhiskey. Maybe now you'll be able to get into Potter's pants. It was simple really, I only-"

"You did what?" Lily asked, maybe she had heard him wrong.

"Lust potion, in the firewhiskey."

"Oh, bloody hell! Black, you idiot!" At that Lily turned on her heel and sped down the corridor. When she woke up that morning she never anticipated that she would have to stop all of her housemates from shagging each other. Maybe she should stop having expectations.

**Hope you liked it!**

**Favorite, follow, and review! :). It'll give me a false sense of confidence! **


	2. Rose Evans: Heroine

**I think I'll update on Thursdays. Thursdays are nice.**

**Chapter 2- Rose Evans: Heroine**

Lily knew that she should have rushed to stop the madness that was currently taking place in the common room, but being a hero was hard. True, she was saving everyone's questionable innocence from the wrath of Sirius Black, but hero's have to dress the part and her school robes hardly seemed acceptable.

It was only then, in the safety of her dormitory, that she realized that none of her outfits were particularly heroic. Sure, she could wear a cape, but that seemed a bit outdated, a proper outfit was in order. She rifled through each and every one of her drawers, and those of her dorm mates to no avail. So she had to settle, which put her in a sour mood. Heroes shouldn't have to deal with these kinds of issues when the task at hand was so much greater.

In the end, Lily was clad in navy knee socks, that may have been a size too small and Mary's, a pleated skirt that she had stolen from Marlene, and a button up that she herself actually owned. It was the perfect disguise, no one would suspect that she, Lily Evans, could possibly be a hero when she was wearing such inconspicuous clothing.

The common room was a mad house, but only in the general party way, everyone was fully clothed, well as fully clothed as some of the Gryffindor girls could be. In the distance she saw James lift a cup and her eyes widened. She ran towards him, nearly tripping over Lance Finnegan on her way to the drinks table.

"Hey, watch it Evans!"

"No can do Finnegan, I've a world to save." She received a few strange glances at that, but she paid them no mind. There would be time to reveal her true identity later.

She finally made it to James, just as he tipped the cup back. For a moment Lily stood in stunned silence until she proceeded to knock all of the firewhiskey onto the floor. The sound of glass breaking immediately quieted everyone in the common room.

"What the hell?" Someone shouted. "We needed that!"

"I saved you!" Lily shouted. "The firewhiskey was poisoned!"

"I always knew she was off her rocker." Someone muttered. "I mean, what the bloody hell is she wearing?"

"Are those my socks?" Mary MacDonald screeched.

"And my skirt?" Marlene McKinnon cried next.

But suddenly James placed a hand onto her back. "What's your name?" His voice whispered into her ear causing her to jump.

"Um-uh-Lily." She stuttered.

"Leave...um..." James trailed off. "What was it again?

"Lily."

"Leave Lily alone, I'm quidditch captain and whatever I say is basically law so have some butterbeer and calm yourselves." There were some annoyed grumbles, but soon enough the common room was filled with voices. "Come upstairs?"

She nodded slightly even though she knew she ought not to. This was taking advantage of him, he was under the influence of a potion, but she was Lily Evans and she was always trying to be better, but not tonight. Tonight, she thought, she would have fun, she wouldn't mind the consequences. Tonight she would just listen to the sound of James murmuring in her ear and touching her and leading her up the stairs to his dormitory.

"Come here." He whispered gruffly as he dropped onto his bed. Lily hastily crossed the room and he placed his hands on her waist, pulling her closer. He began to fumble with the buttons of her shirt and she sucked in a breath, he was very close to her, she could feel the heat of his breath and see the agitation in his eyes that he couldn't possibly unbutton the blouse any faster.

"James-"

"Yes, Rose?" She shot him a confused look.

"It's-" Lily began to correct him, but he placed his mouth onto hers. She could taste the firewhiskey on his breath and his mouth was moving very urgently, he wanted something more, but of course he did, he was under a lust potion after all.

Her top was thrown onto the floor and he began reaching for her skirt as she leaned closer to pull off his shirt, which soon joined the ever increasing pile of garments on the floor.


	3. Once upon a button

**Chapter 3- Once upon a button**

Lily Evans ran away from the boys dormitory the second she was done putting all of her clothes back on. She may have been missing her knickers, but no matter, she had plenty more,it was not worth risking the possibility of James waking up.

Upon entering the dorm Marlene began to clap. "Your first walk of shame!" She cheered as Lily reached into her drawer to change into something that didn't make her feel so very dirty.

"So, how was it?" Mary asked. "You know, the bloke of your dreams inviting you to his dormitory?"

"He's not the bloke of my dreams. He had a nice face and now I'm over it."

"He must've been pretty horrid then." Marlene muttered causing Lily to throw a clip at her. "Anyway, where's your button?"

"My what?"

"You know, the middle button of your top. The one you're supposed to have." Lily looked down to see that she was in fact missing a button, her cheeks flushed. "Ah, popped off, didn't it?"

"No."

"So you're saying that if we searched through James Potter's dorm we would not find a button?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Lily could feel her cheeks beginning to heat.

"She's a liar too, scandalous." Lily bit her tongue to avoid a fight. She could list a lot of scandalous things about both girls in the room.

"Forgive me if I disagree." Lily instead replied. After that, they began to head to breakfast, but Lily stayed back.

"Are you coming?"

"I think I'll go to the library."

"You shagged, he didn't propose. There's no need to avoid any place that he might be."

"Ha-ha. I have to finish some work before classes."

"Sure, have fun avoiding Potter."

Lily took this as her cue to begin her trek to the Hogwarts library. She had numerous memories in that fairly dusty room. One of which included when she first met Remus Lupin. Upon seeing him, she crashed into a table, promptly fell onto the floor, and began to bleed a great deal from her leg. After a healing spell and a few minutes of Remus trying to decide whether or not she had a concussion (she had not even hit her head), they finally introduced themselves.

Remus was currently in the library. _Does he sleep? Like ever? He's always here. Always. That's not an exaggeration. Does he eat? Who knows? Certainly not I. _He was somewhat nice looking, it was a bit difficult to explain. He had light brown hair and green eyes, it was a nice colour arrangement. Well, he would be rather nice looking had it not been for the scars that covered a good portion of his face.

"Top of the morning to you."

"What?"

"I was trying to be as posh as you, did it work?"

"Hardly." Remus replied. Lily noticed that his blue and bronze tie knotted neatly, he always seemed to dress impeccably. His form suggested something else entirely. He always seemed tired and alone.

"Have you left the library at all?" Lily blurted.

"You do know I go to classes, right?"

"Erm...we don't have classes together."

"Yes we do. I actually have most of my classes with you. We're even partners in potions." Lily shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant.

"Oh, you're _that _Remus Lupin."

"There's only one Remus Lupin. Actually, on second thought, I'm the only Remus in the entire school."

"I'm disgusted Remus! Don't you remember Remus er..." Lily looked frantically around the room. "Table, no just kidding. Booklampfloor! Yes, that was it. Remus Booklampfloor, he was lovely. And French I think."

"Really? I'd love to meet another Remus, it's a horrid name."

"No! He doesn't go here anymore. Don't you remember? The giant squid inappropriately touched him and he had to go through intense counseling." That had happened to Lily the previous year, but Remus probably wouldn't remember the details.

"I remember something like that." Remus sighed nostalgically. "The giant squid had to wear a badge of shame for months."

"Well it deserved everything it got!"

"You seem very passionate about the giant squid's sex life."

"I'm not! I have to go." Lily quickly collected her books and began to run.

Lily glared into the black lake, a sickened look gracing her features. The giant squid's head popped up from the water's surface and met her gaze. "You had better watch your back, I'm still not over it." She squinted her eyes and raised her fist menacingly. "There's nowhere you can hide!"

The giant squid sent her a terrified look before escaping to the other side of the lake.


	4. Oh how the tables have turned

**Chapter 4- Oh how the tables have turned**

After Lily cleared things up with her sworn enemy, she made time in her oh so busy schedule to go to potions. As previously claimed, Remus was in fact her partner.

"Hello partner."

"You finally acknowledge our partnership?"

"You're no Remus Booklampfloor, but you'll have to do."

Remus sighed and returned his gaze to his most recent fascination; a book. It was called How To Survive Being A Werewolf With No Friends: In Forty Seven Easy Steps! (Includes One Bonus Step.)

"Are you a werewolf?"

"What no..." Remus said, somehow managing to drop the book on his foot while simultaneously banging his head into the table.

"I was just kidding." Lily said. Remus couldn't be a werewolf. He was far too posh to deal with things like uncontrollably turning into a monster, like his mother and her super cool dinner parties that he attended every month on the full moon. Surely if he were really a werewolf she would arrange her illustrious dinner parties around his transformation. Remus wouldn't miss those parties for the world.

He visibly relaxed. "You're so funny Lily."

"And drop dead gorgeous." She reminded him.

Then potions started, but for real. Professor Slughorn took to the front of the room. Lily had always thought he looked like Santa and smelled vaguely like a dusty broom cupboard, he was also a rather creepy old man, but Lily took this all in stride which put her in his good books.

"We're going to be brewing amortentia." Slughorn said loudly.

"Isn't that a sixth year potion?" Severus Snape said. Lily hadn't liked Snape ever since their fight when he called her a girl. Sure it was all in good fun, but that gave him no right to throw all of his sexist views onto her. All of the Slytherin's were like this and it made her angry that they thought no girls should be allowed to vote. They scorned Professor McGonagall on a daily basis and to her credit she only turned a Slytherin into a stool once.

"I believe so, but I forgot to teach it, silly me. Haha." Slughorn said, but Lily knew the truth. He hadn't taught this because he had happened to be completely trashed the entire year prior. Lily respected his commitment to his precious alcohol, but still, it got a bit out of hand when he began pouring dangerous potions over students heads. Professor Dumbledore had sent him to a few AA meetings in muggle London and that had clearly done the trick.

But now the sobered professor had a lot of things to teach.

Remus nominated Lily to get the ingredients and someone seconded it so there she was, in front of the potions cupboard, trying to figure out what an Ashwinder egg was.

"Here." James said, tossing an egg towards her, but he clearly had no knowledge of Lily's sporting abilities. Instead of the egg landing neatly in her hands like he had clearly intended, it instead smacked into her face with a sickening crack.

"Do you know how expensive those are?" Slughorn was fuming.

"Um...no."

"Exactly three knuts."

"That's not so much." James said. "I could give that to you from my pocket-"

"That's not the point Mr. Potter!" Slughorn shouted. "It's the principle! Both of you, detention, next Monday immediately after dinner." Then he stomped back to his desk and moodily stared at them from a distance.

James followed Lily to her table once she collected the necessary ingredients. "Sorry about getting you detention."

"It's alright." Lily noticed that Remus had wandered away, probably to read his book, maybe, she didn't know.

"So...about last night."

Lily nearly dropped the Ashwinder egg. "No, you're not supposed to remember..."

"Oh, please, Rose. I could never forget you."

"That's not my name!"

"Hmm..." He leaned closer to her. "I know your name. Lily, Lily Evans."

"So why were you..."

"Because I like it when you're flustered."

"Get away from me." She looked away, she had finally got over her silly crush and now he was acting like this. The potion was ready and she began to bottle it.

"Don't worry _Lily, _you'll be seeing a lot of me." James said her name as if it was something taboo and it made her shiver, he smirked when he noticed. "You can't get rid of me that easily." Then he walked back towards his table, the scent of broom polish and mint trailing behind him.

The potion smelled of him.


	5. The PPFC

**Who is emotionally prepared for Peter Pettigrew?**

**Chapter 5- The PPFC**

_Fifth year: The Hogwarts grounds_

_It happened on a Friday. The fifth years had just finished their OWLS and they were just beginning to wind down when it happened. As usual Sirius Black was front and center, wearing that cruel smirk of his._

_"Are you going to cry?" Sirius asked._

_"Um...no?" Severus said. "I don't see why I should be crying."_

_"Because I'm writing a novel where you're hanging upside down and I'm tormenting you."_

_"Stop it, Black!" He shouted. "Don't make a mockery of me like this!" The crowd laughed at Severus' pain._

_"Would you like me to read a passage?" Sirius cleared his throat without waiting for an answer. "'Who wants me to take off Snivily's pants?' Sirius asked._

_'No!' Snape cried. 'These are my nice pants!'_

_Sirius snorted at this, 'Nice pants? I don't think you even own another pair.'"_

_Lily could not handle seeing Sirius torment her mate like this. "Stop it Sirius, he's had enough!"_

_"I don't think-"_

_"I don't need help from a girl!" Lily gasped and took a step back, Severus's gaze softened. "No, Lily, I didn't-"_

_She ran._

Lily could remember the scene perfectly. It had been a terrible day, Severus was a jerk, even more so than Sirius. It had been two years ago and Lily was barely over it.

"Lily, hi!" A calm voice shouted out. It was Peter Pettigrew; one of the coolest Hufflepuff's around. As always he was surrounded by many students from his house as well as others. Peter was rather popular, being in Hufflepuff really brought his favorable traits into light.

"Hello Peter." Lily replied quickly, she had never really liked Peter. He smelled odd and was the one to set her hair on fire that one time.

_Sixth year: The great hall_

_"Hey, Lily, do you think I can control fire?" Peter asked._

_"I don't know, you tell me."_

_"Ok." He then proceeded to throw a match towards her hair and attempt to control it using his mind._

_To make a long story short, Lily did not look good with short hair and Peter did not have the ability to control fire._

"Did we do anything important in potions?"

Lily spit on his shoes.

"What the hell?" One girl yelled. "How could you do that to our leader?"

"Is this a cult?" Lily asked.

"We're an entourage!"

"What gives you the right to say that?"

"Because I'm Bethany Clarke head of the Peter Pettigrew Fan Club or PPFC for short." Bethany handed Lily a card from her purse. "Here, take my card, I also perform at weddings."

"What's so great about Peter?"

She heard a gasp. "Did she just say that?"

"I think she did. We have to defend Peter's honor don't we?"

"Of course we do! How could you even suggest that we let her walk away feeling superior?" The whole group nodded (it's a cult thing) and lunged at Lily.

Maybe if Bethany Clarke was the only one to assault her she would have been fine, but when the entire PPFC headed straight for her, well she didn't stand a chance.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later Lily was sporting a black eye, a bloody lip, a broken nose, and a shirt covered in dirty shoe prints. Someone, a passing fifth year, had helped Lily to the hospital wing where Madam Pomfrey had taken over.

Lily's eye and lip were healed, her nose was snapped back into place, but alas there was nothing to do about the top.

"Lily, they're all so sorry." Peter said, although the group behind him looked anything but. "Especially Bethany."

"Like hell I am."

"Isn't she just a riot?" Peter grinned. "Well we have a little something to make up for your injuries." He tossed a pin towards her and proceeded to exit the room.

Bethany quickly turned back towards Lily. "You should thank me. You needed a nose job." Then the blonde quickly sped away to match the pace of the others.

Lily sighed and turned the pin over, there on the front it read, 'Honorary Member Of The PPFC.' She tossed it in the rubbish bin.

**On another note, Bethany is one of the three OC's that will be introduced in Rainbow Stockings. Oh gosh, I love Bethany Clarke.**


	6. Sirius Black: Personal Stylist

**Chapter 6- Sirius Black: Personal Stylist**

Lily decided that she was feeling adventurous. Being beaten up by Peter's friends had really given her a new outlook on life. As per usual, she didn't know what to wear because she was Lily Evans and she only owned one pair of bell bottom jeans which caused quite the riot when she attended Woodstock, but that was a story for a different day.

"Mary, I need help!"

"What is it Lily?"

"I don't know what to wear."

Mary grinned. "Yes! I've been wanting to give you fashion advice since first year!"

"Erm...actually do you mind getting Sirius?"

"Sirius Black?"

"Absolutely."

Mary sighed, but left the room without an argument,

"This won't do." Sirius shook his head upon looking through Lily's clothing. "Who picked out this sweater?" He held up a white sweater that appeared to be a few sizes too small. "It looks like something your dad picked up as a last minute birthday present." He tossed the sweater out the window.

"Hey! That was uncalled for!"

"Uncalled for? Uncalled for?" His voice was getting louder. "What I think is uncalled for is your poor choice in apparel. It is not my fault that you have worse taste than the giant squid!"

"You know that's a sore subject, Sirius!" Sirius rolled his eyes and finally threw a black article of clothing at her.

"Wear this, I think it'll go great for what is planned for today." Lily unrolled the outfit and grinned.

"Perfect." Then Lily raced to the bathroom to try on the outfit. The black school robes looked great. She emerged to see Sirius leaning against the wall, a coloring book in hand. "Let's go before we're late to classes."

"Classes?" Sirius wrinkled his nose. "I'd much rather rifle through McKinnon's knickers drawer."

"Wouldn't we all. But we have to go, Black."

He narrowed his eyes. "I'm not taking orders from you!"

"What because I'm a _girl_?"

"Um, no, because you had to ask me what to wear to classes when we have a uniform." Sirius shrugged. "Ok, let's go to class."

James Potter was leaning against the wall next to the charms classroom. He was spinning his wand between his fingers and he had a sarcastic sort of look on his face.

"You're an unlikely pair, aren't you?" He asked.

Sirius snorted. "Please, do you know anything about me? I don't have friends." Then Sirius quickly walked into the charms room.

"It's true you know." James said. "He's really not your friend."

"I don't need advice from you, Potter." Lily replied staring at the doorway that Sirius had just disappeared into. She shook her head and entered the room with James following close behind. "Is Professor Flitwick here?" She asked Mary. Mary pulled a nervous face and was about to answer until she was interrupted.

"So good of you to join us." Professor Flitwick said appearing from behind the desk that was infinitely too tall for the part goblin. "Detention, to all of you, you're seventh years, you should know better than to come halfway into class."

Lily had no arguments, he was right after all, but James did. "I'd say it was more of a quarter into class." He leaned back in his seat and clasped his hands behind his head.

"Mr. Potter, detention for the entire week." The professor was positively red by this point.

"Actually, I'm busy." He smirked. "I've a detention already with Slughorn."

"_Proffesor _Slughorn." Flitwick corrected. "And no matter, you'll just have my detention immediately after his and for the rest of the week after."

"I have quidditch practice! I'm captain."

"You should've thought about that before you interrupted my class."

"I'll take his detention." The words were out of Lily's mouth before she could control herself and the entirety of the room turned towards her.

"No, Miss Evans, but you will join him for speaking out of turn."

Lily really needed to learn when to keep his mouth shut.


	7. Slughorn and the law situation

**Chapter 7- Slughorn and the law situation**

Lily didn't attend dinner. Slughorn's room was thankfully empty so she decided to wait out the meal there. She perched herself on the nearest desk and clasped her hands in her lap.

She had never had detention before and it was eating at her a bit. She tried her best to avoid thinking about why she was where she was, about why she was stuck in detention for the entire week. _It's because of James Potter. _Her hands curled into fists, _I can't believe I ever fancied that twit, he's nothing but trouble._

_Detention. I really have detention, this isn't a bad dream. _Lily had to fight to control her breathing, she felt as though she was nearly going to vomit. _They'll probably tell mum. Thank merlin she doesn't know how to send a howler._

Lily didn't think she could handle speaking with James, ever since he had begun to notice her existence he had been nothing but trouble, terribly attractive, but trouble nonetheless. He made her feel very hot all the time as well and that made her more uncomfortable than she would like to admit. Sure she had received some male attention in her lifetime, but James was different, he had this way of setting her on edge by saying nothing more than her name.

Professor Slughorn entered the room only minutes later, an odd look crossing his face. "Miss Evans? My, you're early."

"Yes, professor. I wanted to start as soon as possible."

"Alright, Miss Evans." He said backing into the wall. "You can clean the cauldrons."

"Professor? What are you doing?"

His eyes widened as he groped for the door handle without turning around. "Oh you know..."

"It's the restraining order isn't it?"

"I can't be within a foot of any children." He finally got the door open and slowly slid out the door before cussing under his breath. "Hey, Miss Evans." He whispered through the crack in the door. "Your wand. Roll it here."

"I'm sorry?"

"You can't have your wand." Lily sighed and dropped her wand to the ground, kicking it in the general direction of the door. It bounced against the wall and skittered back towards her. On the fifteenth try she finally got it right and the creepy professor scampered away with her wand.

"I'm not sure I trust him with my wand..." From the hallway she heard a squeak which must have been Professor Slughorn bumping into James.

"Hey, Mr. Potter." Lily heard. "Your wand..." She tuned out, and began drumming her fingers against the hard wood of the table waiting for Slughorn to remember that she needed cleaning supplies.

James walked in a moment later, his clothing was soaked and he was holding cleaning supplies in the form of a bucket and sponges. "Do you know why Slughorn threw a bucket of mysterious liquids at me and ran away?" Lily shrugged, she was in no mood to go into the professor's legal situation with James.

"Pass a sponge here." Lily said.

"There is no way in hell I am touching whatever is in this bucket." Lily rolled her eyes and yanked the bucket away from him. She could see why he didn't want to be anywhere near the pail, inside there was a foul smelling green liquid that sloshed dangerously close to the rim. "I know I'm not around muggles often, but I don't think that that's what cleaning solution looks like."

There was absolutely no chance Lily could agree with him. "Oh, please, Potter. Have you ever done work in your lifetime?" It was no secret that James Potter lived a very privileged life.

"Your words sting. And what, I'm Potter now? That wasn't what you called me when I was-"

"Shut up!" Lily took a deep breath through her nose and reached for the sponge. James wordlessly went to sort through the cupboard that held all of the potions ingredients.

It was hard to stay angry at him when he looked so pathetic, trying to read the smudged labels on the ingredients, but he was a right git and Lily couldn't find it in herself to feel too bad.

The only thing worse than having one detention with James was having two. Lily silently wished herself luck.

**You know, I'm really terrible at keeping my one promise (AKA uploading on Thursdays) but it's probably ok because I was busy coughing out a lung due to my terrible cold. Yay! You can review if you want, it'll probably make me feel better.**


	8. James Potter and the Sex Pistols

**Chapter 8- James Potter and the Sex Pistols**

Flitwick didn't feel the need to give them all the same detention. He was fond of Lily, but he didn't feel the same affection for Sirius.

"Miss Evans, you can..." He glanced around the room. "Supervise." Lily shrugged and made herself comfortable by sitting on his desk. "If anything goes wrong just set the ceiling on fire, I'll come 'round before you all die.

"Now, Mr. Potter you can straighten out the chairs." His gaze turned angry. "Mr. Black you can sweep the floor and clean the windows." He tossed Sirius a rag and a broom. Flitwick left after taking Sirius's wand.

"He thinks he's so smart..." Sirius mumbles pulling his wand out of his pocket.

"Didn't you give that to Flitwick?"

"No, I gave him a tree branch." Sirius shrugged. "Just don't set the ceiling on fire, yeah Evans?"

"Ok Sirius, just do a half assed job of cleaning or else he'll know you've used magic." She advised.

"I don't need your help." He said.

James caught her eye and he shrugged as if to remind her of what he'd said outside of the charms room. He wasn't wrong either. Sirius liked his image and he didn't want people to think that he was friends with Lily Evans. Therefore, he was never particularly nice to her once they were around anyone.

"Well I'll be off." Sirius said, the door slamming shut behind him. The room was silent aside from James' humming, it sounded like something off of the new Sex Pistols record, but Lily couldn't be sure, she got it as a Christmas present and had only been able to listen to it briefly. She had no idea as to how James Potter, a pureblood, knew that song better than she did.

"How do you know that song?" Lily asked, leaning forward.

"What?" He stopped humming and Lily strangely disliked that.

"That song. It's the sex pistols isn't it? You're a pureblood, how do you know muggle music?"

He paused for a moment, looking at her curiously. "That doesn't mean I can't listen to good music, does it?"

Lily flushed. "I suppose not." She looked down, she didn't want him to see her blush, that would be mortifying.

"I've finished with the chairs. Come supervise, supervisor." He reached for her hand to help her off of the desk but she ignored it and jumped to the floor herself.

She slowly scanned the room for any imperfections and upon finding none said, "Everything seems to be in order."

He followed her out of the classroom, waiting as she stopped to scan the halls. "Coming Lily?"

"You don't have to wait for me, I can handle myself."

"Oh, I know, Lily." He briefly hummed another verse from the song he was singing earlier.

"What song is that anyway?"

"Oh, I don't know." He said offhandedly. She narrowed her eyes, he was playing her. He wouldn't tell her because he was James Potter and he liked his secrets. She decided that she didn't care, he could keep his songs to himself.

He caught her eye and flashed a grin, he was rather good looking, his tie was hanging loosely around his neck, his glasses were askew, and he looked damn good in his uniform, no arguing that.

"Erm, Lily, are you going to let go?" Her eyes widened as she realized what had happened. Her hands had grabbed onto his tie and she was about to pull him closer, she found that she really really wanted to.

"Listen Potter, I don't like you. You're not pleasant in the least bit, you've got an arrogance to you and you use it to your advantage. And I think that you like me or well you seem to." She looked away for a brief instant. "Well I don't want to date you or-"

"Are you asking for a shag?" She began to blush furiously. He waited for a moment, watching her discomfort. "Alright Evans, I'm all yours."

"But I want to be clear. We're not dating, we're not even friends. Get that, Potter?"

"Oh, relax Evans. I don't want to date you either." She seemed to take this as the ok and pulled him closer by the tie. "Wait, as much as I'd like to copulate with you in the hallway, I really don't want Filch to walk in on us."

"Did you just say copulate?" James stared blankly. Lily shook her head and moved on. "So what do you suggest we do?"

"I know just the place." He took her hand and led her down a series of hallways and once he found a certain wall he seemed very pleased. He walked past the same section of wall three times before a door appeared.

Lily decided not to ask questions, she just pulled him into the room.

Later, when James thought Lily was sleeping, (she was awake, waiting for her chance to escape) he mumbled, "I don't know of the Sex Pistols. It was a Madame Bletchley song."

Lily found that she didn't care much.


	9. Bethany 101

**Chapter 9- Bethany 101**

Remus Lupin was the first person that Lily encountered on her walk of shame.

"Do you own a brush?" Was what he asked. "And another pair of robes?" He was always a bit of a prig. He also didn't have much more than a vague understanding of mature ideas.

"Yes, Remus, I own a few brushes." She plainly ignored his second question, she couldn't let all of her secrets out.

Peter approached a moment after Remus left. He was with his latest girlfriend Indie Stoll (Peter was quite the player) and his posse following dutifully behind.

Bethany cracked her knuckles as if anticipating another fight.

"Lily!" He grinned. "Did you brush your hair?"

"Doesn't look like it." Bethany said with a roll of her eyes.

Indie hit her. "Don't be so moody Beth, she probably just woke up." Lily stared in awe. No one that she had ever previously met could control the monster also known as Bethany Clarke, but Indie seemed to be handling Bethany's attitude problem.

"Can you mentor me Indie?"

"What?" Indie scrunched her nose.

Lily sighed. "You know how to handle Bethany."

"Hey!" The girl in question shouted. "I'm easy to deal with, thank you very much."

"Alright." Indie replied. "Your first lesson starts in ten minutes."

"Ah!" Lily screamed as the chalk scraped against the board.

Indie shot her a glare. "I wouldn't have had to do that if you would just pay attention." Indie walked forward until she was right in Lily's face. "Show no mercy, Evans! Bethany can be a monster if you let her, she gets very protective and jealous, and believe me when I say that there's no stopping her. Now let's act out the scene from the top." Indie backed away again and Lily felt as though she could breathe again. "When was the last time you showered?"

"This morning."

"What did I say? No mercy!"

Lily cringed. "I mean...er...your hair looks nice?"

"God Lily! You're pathetic, you have to put her in her place!" Indie sighed. "When was the last time you showered?"

Lily straightened her shoulders. "I think it was about the same time you looked in the mirror, so I'd say about a minute ago."

Indie nodded. "Better, but you've got to practice."

_Or I could push her off of the astronomy tower. That seems like a much more stellar plan._

"I don't want to practice."

"Stop whining." Indie snapped, pulling her dark hair into a ponytail and a crease was most definitely forming between her eyebrows. "Well, keep practicing. I've got to go see Peter." Her eyes took on a dreamy quality and Lily proceeded to vomit. "That was a bit excessive." Indie said in response before leaving Lily in the empty classroom alone.

Maybe Lily's day wasn't going exactly as planned. Surely she hadn't expected to be pressed too close for comfort to Sirius Black in a broom closet. Clearly fate had other plans because she was in a broom closet and Sirius Black was in fact breathing down her neck.

"Move your bloody elbow!" Sirius hissed. It wasn't exactly the epitome of romance.

"Your arse is what should be moving because I think that I'm being molested." Lily elbowed him and he let out a pained sigh. "Now shut up."

Sirius narrowed his eyes. "Why are we in a broom closet?"

"Don't worry, I've no plans to snog you." She pressed her eye closer to the crack in the door. "And if you must know, I came to spy on Remus."

"Remus Lupin? Isn't he a werewolf?"

"What the hell Sirius? You can't just make these assumptions with no facts, that's a horrible thing to accuse someone of."

"Ok...ok...so why are you spying on this Ravenclaw?"

"He has a date." Lily replied, trying to get closer to the crack.

"You fancy him." Sirius deduced.

"No I don't!" She shoved a hand over her mouth. "I'm doing this as a mate."

"If you say so. Why am I here though?"

Lily sighed, he really didn't get it. "Moral support, duh."

"I really don't-"

"Shh, he's coming." And then there was a crash.


	10. Holly Everway and the downward spiral

**Chapter 10- Holly Everway's downward spiral from greatness**

Holly Everway was, at one point, a total bombshell (which was definitely appropriate language when one was describing Holly), but this completely changed one day in late November. It all started when she agreed to go on a date with Remus Lupin.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. He looked a bit down on his luck, what with his scars and lack of friends, so she decided to accept his offer. What she never expected was Lily Evans. Everyone knew that Lily was generally friends with everyone. She was the type of person you would consider your friend even when you've barely spoken ten words to her.

A slightly lesser known fact was that Lily was very much into Remus Lupin. Maybe it wasn't a fact, considering Lily denied it profusely and Remus would pretend that he was deaf, force you to learn sign language, and once you have it down he would shout "surprise!" and admit that it was all a fib, he was quite conniving.

Holly was never one to believe gossip so she saw no problem with accepting a date. Surely nothing could go wrong, maybe they'd have nothing to talk about, but that didn't concern her too much.

So on that crisp day in November Holly and Remus walked hand in hand through the corridors, their destination being the carriages which would take them to Hogsmeade.

"How's Hufflepuff?" Remus asked timidly.

Holly sighed. "It's my house, you don't have to be so nervous about bringing it up. It's not as if you're mentioning a missing limb." Remus chuckled awkwardly and Holly made an effort not to snort or yank her hand from his. He was being insensitive, just because she wasn't a Gryffindor didn't mean that her house was meaningless or something to be ashamed of.

Then she heard a crash.

Lily Evans and Sirius Black fell from a nearby broom closet. From her position on the floor Lily screeched, "She's a witch, Remus! I knew she had a secret. I can't let this relationship go on!"

"Geroff me." Sirius mumbled from under Lily.

"Shut up, Sirius, I'm busy." Sirius sighed.

Remus let go of Holly's hand. "What do you mean she's a witch?" A horrified expression was on his scarred face.

"Yes, I'm a witch." Holly said slowly. "It's the female counterpart of a wizard. That's how I got into Hogwarts, you know, by being a witch."

"I really thought we had something Holly." Remus said. "But clearly I was wrong. This will never work out, not when you're keeping such big and terrible secrets."

"But I-" Holly started.

"No Holly. It's over." And Remus, Sirius, and Lily walked away leaving Holly in the corridors wondering what exactly happened.

News of Holly's witchcraft spread throughout Hogwarts like wildfire. She had not expected people to actually take the news seriously, a large portion of Hogwarts was also witches! Nonetheless people avoided her; the Hufflepuff's left her a wide berth at each meal and she was no longer regarded as a bombshell and asked out daily.

Needless to say, Holly was upset. Ok, maybe she was more than just upset. She was downright pissed. It was a bit of a dark time for her, she may or may not have set fire to Lily's scarf one evening in the great hall and she also may have "accidentally" added extra newt's eye to Remus' potion. That last one made her feel a bit sorry.

So now Holly, branded as a freak, had a vendetta to settle with Lily. But sometimes on those late nights alone in the common room, through mouthfuls of firewhiskey she had carefully snuck into Hogwarts, she would blame it all on herself. And maybe she was right, maybe she was too soft, maybe she shouldn't have found it in her heart to accept a date with a disfigured Ravenclaw.

But really she knew that it was all Lily Evans' fault. And she knew that, despite being told that all Hufflepuff's were kind and good, she needed to ruin Lily, just as Lily had ruined her. And deep down she knew that revenge was sweet.


	11. Hello Partner

**Chapter 11- Hello partner**

Lily was not in a particularly good situation. Slughorn decided to switch up the potion partners and now she was potions partners with Peter. While most girls at Hogwarts would be envious of her situation, she felt quite the opposite.

Once the partners were announced, Lily's hand shot into the air. "Yes, Miss Evans?" Slughorn asked, his back pressed against the farthermost wall.

"Can I switch partners?"

"No, all partners are final."

"Oh." Lily frowned. "Then can you brew a potion that will kill me? Because I'd rather die than sit next to Peter Pettigrew." She received a considerable amount of hisses at that comment.

"That seems a bit rash Miss Evans."

"No, I will refuse to attend this class if you put me anywhere near that idiot."

Slughorn sighed. "Alright, you can be partners with James Potter." Lily rolled her eyes and sunk back into her seat, _what a cliché. I'm partners with the boy I hate whom I'm also sleeping with. Slughorn just loves drama, the creep._ The creep in question was staring deeply into Peter's eyes. "And Peter, you may be with Indiana."

Peter narrowed his eyes. "Who?"

"That girlfriend of yours Indiana Stroll?"

"Do you mean Indie Stoll?"

"That's the one!"

Peter sighed in response. "She isn't in this class, she's a Ravenclaw."

"Then why is that Lupin boy here?" Remus' eyes widened and he pretended to be very interested in the window.

Lily decided to respond to that one. "He just shows up to whatever classes he feels like attending."

"Alright. So you'll be partners with Justin Finch-Fletchley."

"Wrong era, professor."

Slughorn grimaced. "Ok, then just be partners with Remus Lupin."

James practically threw himself into the seat next to Lily. "Hello partner." Lily tapped her foot against the dirty floor and pretended not to hear him. "I'm going to go get the ingredients." James said waving offhandedly to the page that was opened in his book. She watched him collect the items (of course it was only to make sure he didn't get them detention again) and slanted her gaze to the table before he saw her watching.

Remus was sitting with Peter, wearing a slight grimace, which replaced his usual look of superiority. Lily sighed. _I don't fancy him. I just think he looks nice and has a rather decent sort of personality. We're mates, I swear, I'd say the same about...ok, I don't have any other friends, but no matter! I still conclude that I would say the same about any friend I had._

Lily looked up the instant James took his seat again. He dropped the items they would be using on the table, it was a wonder that none rolled away.

"So...Remus?" James asked quietly.

"What are you going off about?"

"I saw you staring at him, I think everyone did." James began to cut something that Lily was not interested in seeing.

She shook her head. "It's not like that, I don't fancy him."

"Ok."

"I _don't_!"

James rolled his eyes. "I'm not very inclined to believe you."

Lily began to stir the cauldron counter-clockwise. "I don't care. I don't have to convince you of anything." On the inside she was fuming. One part of her was wondering, _what have I done to lose his trust? _while the another just wondered _how could I have ever liked this bloke?_ There was another part, a significantly smaller one, that wanted to push him against the wall and shut his ruddy mouth up with hers.

That part would surely be the end of her.


	12. Shagship

**Chapter 12- Shagship**

Lily removed a quill and a length of parchment from her bag and dropped them both onto her four poster. She knew she should really be doing her homework, but there were other things at hand.

**_The ways in which to stop the James Potter acquisition (of the mind):_**

**_Stop thinking about his mouth. Or his hair. Or his stupid way of speaking. Or his mouth. Or maybe just him in general._**

**_Stop trying (I mean succeeding) in unclothing him. Or thinking about unclothing him._**

**_Stop staring._**

**_Never, even in a valiant attempt to save the namesake of Godric Gryffindor, allow James Potter, while drunk on lust potion, to shag you, not even if you fancy him to the point of obsession._**

**_Pretend that you're in love with Remus Lupin on the off chance that James will think you are nothing more than a slag and discontinue your _****_relationship shagship_****_ whatever it is that you're calling it._**

**_Hide out in your dorm room until he thinks you're sleeping or dead._**

**_Try to keep conversation limited in potions class. If he questions your lack of voice, tell him that you're saving it to sing live opera (that should deter every self respecting bloke)._**

**_Train your owl (who is thankfully not called James) to eat cats. Set it loose on James' cat.*_**

**_Do not kiss James Potter. That will only lead to danger because he snogs quite well.**_**

**_*For the record, I do not know that James has a cat. Nor do I appreciate these accusations._**

**_**He's an average snog at best._**

Lily, pleased with herself, rolled up the parchment. Then, after realizing what she had just done, proceeded to rip up the evidence of this ungodly action. _I do not need to get James out of my mind considering he was never there to begin with._

Her heart thrummed in her chest and she tried her hardest to ignore it. _I'm just...worried over NEWTS...they're soon. _

She could only ignore the fact that exams weren't for months for so long.

Sirius walked with Lily to charms the next day. James had resumed his usual spot, leaning against the wall with one foot propped against it. He was grinning again and Lily wanted to erase the mocking smirk from his features, it made her feel small.

"It's the Gryffindor-Slytherin duo again."

"Watch your mouth, Potter." Sirius said, moving from Lily's side. "Remember what I said? I'm not friends with this...this..._girl_."

Lily took a sharp intake of breath. His words were so heartless, so cruel.

"Listen, Black, you can't go throwing words like that around!" James was angrier than Lily had ever seen him..

Lily closed her eyes for a moment. "Go to charms, James." He must've heard something in her voice because he turned and entered the room.

"Lily, you know that I only called you a...you know what, because I-" Sirius started, not sounding very sincere, his hands raised in mock defense.

"Shut up, Sirius." Lily said. "You think your words don't matter, but they do. People look down on others like me, you know that, people from your house, mainly. I thought you cared, I thought you were better, I thought-"

Then to her surprise, he chuckled darkly. "You thought what? That I would rise against the odds? God, Lily, you are so stupid! People don't change, people aren't better then they seem. What you see is what you get, Lily. I'm a boy, a Slytherin, and a Black. What picture does that paint for you?"

"No, but, you were kind and-"

"If I was kind then maybe I'd have told Potter that we were mates, but then again I was never prone to lying."

Lily shook her head. "I don't understand why you're doing this."

"I've been meaning to do this for a while." Sirius told her, before heading in the opposite direction of the charms room.

_Earlier that day: The Great Hall_

Sirius Black was staring darkly at his plate, as one who hated every member of their house tended to do. Finally, after a few minutes of angrily clutching his fork and jinxing his housemates under the table, he decided it would be best to go to herbology.

She was waiting there, pretty as ever. Her blonde hair fell in curls and her blue eyes looked determined. He wasn't one to ignore a pretty girl and so he ambled his way over to her.

Her grin widened when Sirius asked, "What's your name, love?"

"Holly Everway." Sirius was finally able to place her, she had once went on a date with Remus, she was a witch. "I've been waiting for you."

Sirius took a stunned step back. "You've been what?"

"You can't be friends with Lily anymore." Holly said, getting straight to the point. "I want you to ruin her, to crush her."

"We're not mates." Sirius paused. "But if we were, please tell me, why would I do that?"

This time Holly reached into her pocket. "Because I've got these." She handed him a picture of himself walking with Lily, he could see that they were laughing. "I don't mind if you rip it, I've got loads more." She grabbed the photograph regardless. "I'll show it to your dear mum and dad if you don't do what I say."

Sirius took a breath. "Alright, how do you expect me to do it?"

"I don't care, call her a girl, tell her that you'll never change. Do whatever it takes or mummy and daddy will know about Lily and you'll either have to marry or kill her."

Sirius swallowed. "Ok, it'll be done by tonight."

The purebloods had very strict rules about girls. Being one certainly meant you were looked down upon and it was forbidden for the two genders to mingle.

The only time you were allowed to talk to a girl was when you've decided to marry one, otherwise it was strictly forbidden.

A dark sexist wizard named Voldemort rose to power and was slowly eradicating the girls from the wizarding world's midst. Killings were reported daily, it was a dark time.

But Hogwarts was the safest place in the world with Dumbledore in charge, even for girls like Lily.


	13. Bethany's hobbit hole

**Chapter 13- Bethany's hobbit hole**

Lily didn't have it in her to banter with James. She felt hollow and couldn't stop thinking of the parallels between Sirius and Severus. Both had called her that foul word under circumstances where they were put on the spot. It wasn't exactly an excuse, but it made Lily feel a bit better.

Maybe Sirius was right, maybe it wasn't right to fancy James for who he could be, maybe she should only judge who he was, what his background made him out to be.

It was Bethany who approached her. "You look miserable, Evans."

"You reckon?" Lily replied, from her spot on the steps. Bethany didn't have that self righteous look to her and she looked a bit miserable herself. "And what about you? You look wretched."

Bethany shrugged. "Well, that's my business. I won't ask you questions if you don't ask me any."

Lily considered. "Alright."

"Come on, I have just the thing to help both of us." Bethany helped Lily up from the step. Without really thinking about it, Lily followed the blonde who weaved through the narrow corridors with ease. She led Lily down a couple stairwells and Lily was proud to say that she only tripped twice.

"Three times." Bethany said.

"What?"

"You were monologuing out loud, it's very off-putting." Bethany directed Lily through a portrait hole and Lily finally recognized that they were in the Hufflepuff common room.

"It looks like a hobbit hole."

"Shut up." Bethany said, disappearing into a hole in the wall.

"Aha." Lily whispered under her breath. "I was right, she's probably going to her underground cave right now." Bethany emerged from her cave empty handed, but Lily noticed a bulge in her coat. _What are those Hufflepuff's feeding her?_

"C'mon Evans, we're off to the quidditch pitch." This walk was considerably shorter, considering that Lily actually knew the destination. Although the quidditch pitch was empty Bethany insisted on stopping in a secluded area.

"Are you going to murder me?"

"Hardly." Bethany said sitting without care on the damp grass. The sun was beginning to set in the distance and Lily vaguely wondered if the Head boy and girl, prefects, or any teachers would find them. Bethany retrieved a few bottle of firewhiskey from her jacket and Lily conjured glasses. "Cheers." The only noise disturbing the quiet was a loud clinking of glasses.

The two girls were more than tipsy by the time the sun had set. They'd taken to the quidditch stands and were lying flat on their backs, Bethany one stand above Lily.

Bethany giggled. "That looks like your arse." Bethany pointed to a collection of stars.

Lily grinned. "Is it because my arse is widely known across the galaxies?"

"Exactly." They both broke into fits of laughter. "Hey that's Sirius." Bethany pointed at a star. "Isn't he your mate? Because you should go get him. I wouldn't mind seeing his arse across the galaxies."

Lily's expression darkened. "Pass the firewhiskey, yeah?" Bethany shrugged and handed Lily the bottle. "He called me a girl in front of Potter."

"Peter proposed to Indie." Bethany whispered back. "She didn't say yes, but he still asked and-" She winced. "Pass the bottle back." Lily obliged without a response. "She's just so damn perfect and I know what Peter sees in her, but...I don't know, I wish he looked at me like that."

"I think I fancy Potter." Lily said, quietly. "And sometimes I shag him."

Bethany nodded. "Your taste isn't too horrid, Evans."

Lily stole the bottle back. "You can call me Lily, you know."

"Yes, but I want to call you Evans while it lasts. Because soon it'll be Potter." She sniggered.

"Oi, shut up, will you?" Lily stopped talking for a moment, savoring the taste of the slightly warm firewhiskey. "Peter doesn't know what he's missing. Sure, Indie's great, but she's no Bethany Clarke."

"Bottle." Was Bethany's sullen response. Lily only sighed.

Lily woke up with a hazy memory of the night before, but she felt closer to Bethany than she could have expected. And, although she was cross with him, Lily had a new appreciation for Sirius Black's arse.

**To the guest who asked, "Just read ch 10-12. Interesting chapters. I am confused by one thing though. At the end of ch 12 it is said:**

*******  
**A dark sexist wizard named Voldemort rose to power and was slowly eradicating the girls from the wizarding world's midst. Killings were reported daily, it was a dark time.**  
*******  
**By "girls" does that mean muggle-born females only? Or all witches regardless of blood status? Because if it is the latter then how does Voldie expect the population of magicals to grow if he succeeds?:**

**The answer is that Voldemort obviously wants to kill all females, but in the long run he knows that that wouldn't make logical sense/would be impossible, but by keeping his goals the same (at least ****publicly) he gains supporters in women who would otherwise not be impressed with his tactics (to say the least). Therefore, he is able to remain dangerous in his lack of concern for the future of wizards, but also terrifying in a way that draws people to him.**

**I hope that helped, thanks so much to anyone that reviews!**


	14. Shameful

**Chapter 14- Shameful**

Lily stared at James too much. It reminded her of those days in sixth year when she would watch him do trivial things, like clean his glasses, with such admiration. But now it was different. Because now she was actually worried he would catch her staring. In the past she was more than confident that he would never glance back at her, but now, well, he had taken an interest in her.

"Lovely Lily." A familiar voice said in her ear, causing her to jump. She screwed her eyes shut, of course it was James Potter.

"Please don't call me that." Her voice came out scratchy. She vaguely remembered the list that she had made, but none of the points she had made were coming to mind.

He raised an eyebrow. "Well, since you asked so nicely..."

She twisted her hands nervously. "No, I-"

"Just accept the flattery." James reached out, his hand closing around hers.

"Let go of me." Lily said sharply. And then she saw it, the mischievous glint in his eyes, and her heart nearly stopped. He knew, he bloody knew. "How?"

She didn't need to explain further, he knew what she was asking. "I was on the quidditch pitch last night for some late flying and I heard something rather curious."

"What? That Bethany likes Sirius' arse?"

"No, that you fancy me."

Lily shook her head. "Don't flatter yourself, I said I _fancy _you, not that I love you."

"Yes, but it's something." And then he kissed her. Right in the entrance to the great hall, which was no longer empty. Her head screamed for her to stop, but the rest of her had a mind of its own.

He separated from her with a grin. "Hey, Lily, are you alright?" But his voice came out wrong. It wasn't his, in fact it almost sounded like...

Lily's eyes flashed open to find Remus Lupin standing over her, a concerned look on his marred face.

"I'm fine...I was just getting a few centuries of sleep before potions."

"That's inaccurate."

Lily hummed. "If you say so." Lily finally realized something. "Where were you yesterday? You missed the full moon, Trelawney almost threw her crystal ball at someone when she realized."

"What? Werewolf you say? What is up with these ridiculous accusations, I've half a mind to report you to Dumbledore!"

"With all of these needless panic attacks about werewolves, someone may think you are one." Lily joked.

Remus gasped. "Shame! Shame on you and all of your family." He then proceeded to hastily back out of the library. Lily waited for someone else to wake her, but apparently this wasn't a dream and Remus Lupin had just brought shame to her whole family. And James thought she fancied Remus...

Lily slowly started to collect her books, but soon realized that Remus had stolen them all. "Not again." She whispered. This had happened once before, when he was very angry with her he stole all of her books and set them on fire in the Ravenclaw common room. He was going to be expelled until he shouted that he should have freedom of religion and that there was nothing inherently wrong with sacrificing Lily's books to Zeus.

She sincerely hoped that her books were still in one piece.

"Hello Lily." James said pleasantly, taking his seat next to her. "Nice weather we're having, yeah?"

Lily gave him a flat look. "It's hailing." She tapped the side of her transfiguration textbook which she was pretending was her potions book. Really, it was a genius plan seeing as Professor Slughorn could not come close enough for a proper look due to his restraining order.

James shrugged. "So? Why can't hail be nice?"

"Because it's a pain to walk in." Lily replied, only half paying attention to what she was saying.

James turned his gaze from the window where the faint clicking of the hail stones against glass was coming from to Lily. "I think it's lovely." Then he looked away, like he had revealed too much, it made Lily's heart lurch. Really they didn't know each other. Sometimes they shagged and other times they snogged, but Lily didn't know anything about James and he didn't know anything about her.

But now she knew. James Potter liked hail. And now he knew. Lily Evans did not like hail. Suddenly they were both very interested in their textbooks.


	15. Startled

**Chapter 15- Startled**

Sunlight illuminated Lily's skin and she momentarily wondered where she was. But of course she was with James, in a bed, in the room of requirement. The night came back in flashes, she couldn't stop thinking that she finally knew something substantial about him (it wasn't, not really) and that she couldn't wait to know more, to see every piece of him.

But she shouldn't think that, she shouldn't have wanted to breathe him in. All of this was wrong because she didn't love him, she didn't care about him, he was just something to take up the empty hours in her day.

She shouldn't be thinking of someone who was only a waste of time.

An amazingly wonderful waste of time.

_Stop!_ She began to dress quickly because it was always easier to avoid thinking of James when he wasn't around.

Once she was back in her dormitory she headed straight for the shower. She wanted nothing more than to wash James away, to remove his scent from her hair and scrub the memory of his touch from her skin.

If only it were that easy.

James found himself alone in the room of requirement. It was always like this, Lily woke before him and left without a goodbye. It left him with a sort of empty feeling that he couldn't ignore. He wanted to wake up first to, just once, stay while she slept, to watch her, to say good morning.

Sure, he was usually a prick to her, what with his snarky one liners, but he cared for her. And lately it seemed that she was feeling the same way. He laughed because he knew that he was wrong, she didn't care about him, she could barely stand him.

Soon enough he left the room of requirement. The door disappeared behind him.

He wanted to know who she was. And who better to ask than her friends?

* * *

Sirius Black was outside with a cigarette in hand. Ok, Sirius may not be Lily's friend now, but he had been at some point and everyone knew that the Slytherin was always by himself after classes, back pressed against the astronomy tower.

James had planned on asking Sirius a series of questions about Lily, but what he said hadn't been planned. "You're a right arsehole."

Sirius took a long drag from his cigarette then snubbed it out with the heel of his shoe. Finally he replied. "Thank you."

"You knew she thought you were her mate, why did you deny it? Who cares if you're friends with Lily?"

Sirius didn't answer, he simply began walking away, at least until James shouted after him. "Is that what you're about? You run away from your problems?" James scoffed. "Poor Black and his family problems, is that it? You want everyone to feel sorry for you?"

In an instant Sirius was back and a knowing smirk found its way onto James' face. "What about you? Having girl problems with Lily? Poor Potter, Evans won't even give you the time of day." James almost said that she _had_ given him the time of day, but he managed to keep his mouth shut.

"That's it! It's because of your parents, isn't it? You didn't want them to know you were friends with a woman." And Sirius punched him in the face.

"At least I don't look like a lost puppy, following a girl who isn't interested in me." And James punched him back.

They stopped talking and stared at one another. Blood was dripping down Sirius' chin and his nose was bent at an awkward angle. Then James started to laugh; hard. And Sirius joined in.

"Bloody hell, we look ridiculous." Sirius finally said.

James grinned back. "I'll take you to the hospital wing."

"I'll try to find time in my busy schedule to take you."

And so, they both headed to the hospital wing with some sort of odd bond between them, James thought it was nice in the strangest of ways.

* * *

Lily was only trying to get to the great hall. But as anyone who knows Lily well would say, she doesn't have the best of luck. Let's take today for instance. Lily, being Lily, had absolutely no idea how to tie the shoelaces of her trainers. Considering that this fact was rather embarrassing she kept it a secret from everyone including her family. Therefore, her mum had bought her trainers that she was unable to tie.

This, in turn, led to her tumble down the stairs.

"Ahh!" She shouted as she fell down the flight of stairs, straight into Professor Slughorn.

"No!" He shouted as ministry officials came to take him away. "I didn't mean to break the restraining order, honest!" Then he ran away screaming.

One official sighed. "We see this every day." And then proceeded to chase Slughorn through the corridors.

"I think I just ruined Professor Slughorn's life." Lily was startled.

**Yay, James and Sirius are friends. The marauders will be a thing eventually. Probably. **


	16. i'm sorry

**So someone asked why Slughorn would be arrested when it was Lily's fault. To be honest, I wrote it as a joke (a really bad one). Also, I'm rather stressed with exams so I haven't exactly been thinking straight.**

**Chapter 16- I'm sorry**

She was in an empty corridor, crying into her hands. Her dark hair was messy and her makeup was smudged.

Indie Stoll didn't know why she was so upset. She had told Peter no, she wouldn't marry him, a month ago. She hadn't explained, he seemed hurt.

_"Marry me Indie?" He was on one knee in front of her, a ring in the small velvet box, the one he was presenting to her. "I love you. There's always been something about you, something about your attitude that I've always been in love with." He paused. "Please?"_

_She stared. He looked so open, so honest that she nearly melted into the floor. "I'm sorry, no." She said and ran away._

The memory of it still stung, but it was what she had to do. There was no way she could marry Peter.

"Why didn't you say yes?" She heard Peter ask. She had not heard him approach. Her head jerked up, he was staring at her, the hurt seemed fresh on his face. He had probably not been crying as often as she had. Indie had been hiding from him for the past month, avoiding things like eye contact and speaking to him in the halls. She didn't skip class to avoid Peter for the same reason she hadn't said yes to his proposal.

She had responsibilities that were bigger than herself, ones that she couldn't impose on Peter. She was responsible for her sister. Her sweet sister who couldn't figure out how to express herself, her sister who lashed out in frustration, and who liked to mutter things that only she understood. Indie still remembered when she found out, it had been hot and her mother asked her out on a walk.

_They had been talking about silly things like the way the sky looked and how lovely the flowers were, until suddenly Indie's mother changed gears._

_"You'll take care of her, won't you?"_

_"What?" Indie asked._

_"Scarlett. Will you take care of Scarlett?"_

_"Mum, what are you talking about?"_

_"Can you take care of her? When I can't anymore?"_

_"What about Finn?" Indie found herself asking about her elder brother._

_Her mother sighed. "Indie, he's an unreliable drunk and you know it."_

_"Ok mum, I promise I'll take care of Scarlett." And then under her breath Indie whispered. "But you didn't have to ask, I would've done it anyway."_

_"What was that?"_

_"Nothing." And they headed back for home._

That was when Indie decided that she couldn't skive off classes or go off accepting marriage proposals, she had to be better for Scarlett.

"Well?" Peter prompted, his eyes dark.

Indie swallowed. "I said no because we're too young."

"Of course." Peter agreed and turned to leave. She was lying and she had the sick feeling that he knew.

Indie screamed into her hands.

* * *

"Come on Lily, just let me walk you to class." James said.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Isn't that what you're already doing?"

He shrugged. "Yes, but I'd like your permission."

"Listen Potter, I-" But she never got to finish because they stumbled onto an odd sight. Remus Lupin and Holly Everway were getting off in the hallway. It was expected of Holly what with her reputation as a tart, but Remus generally concentrated on school work.

Just as Lily and James had finally found words Professor Slughorn barreled into Holly and Remus in his feeble attempt to run away from trained ministry officials.

"You'll never catch me!" He screeched performing another jelly leg curse.

Holly and Remus stumbled apart, each looking embarrassed.

"I was furthering my research." Remus said at the same instant Holly said, "Stop looking at me like I've tried to shag him in the corridors."

"What?" Holly asked. "You don't have to be such a prude, who knows where you two get off to."

Lily scoffed. "Us?" She motioned to James. "Please, as if I would ever stoop so low. I hate him."

James looked sick.

"If you say so." Then Holly and Remus walked off, leaving James and Lily alone.

James was staring at Lily as if she had suddenly transformed into a different person, as if suddenly her red hair had turned blonde. She desperately wanted to know what he was thinking, why he was looking at her like that. Because really she had gotten over the uneasiness of his gawking, but this was something entirely new.

"James? Are you alright?"

He took a breath. "What did you mean, 'as if I'd stoop so low?'"

"That was nothing. I couldn't let Holly know what we were getting up to."

"You took it rather far."

"Well, you're my secret and I expect I'm yours, a very dirty secret that should never get out." Lily sent him a meaningful look. "Are we clear? You and I...we're nothing solid...nothing worth remembering."

James took a step back. "I've got to go to transfiguration."

"Weren't you going to walk me to defense?"

He shot her a look that didn't quite seem sorry. "I can't be late, sorry." And then he sped off.

Lily's face was burning with heat, she had been so idiotic. Of course he didn't want to walk her to class, he didn't even like her as a person. Well, two could play at this game, if he wanted her around he would get her. She wouldn't fall for James Potter, she would save herself from him. Because he was quidditch captain and one of the most popular people in Gryffindor, and really, what was she? Lily Evans, and that was all. It would never be nearly enough.


	17. Pine Stool

**Chapter 17- Pine Stool**

Professor McGonagall was growing impatient. "You are seventh years, you should be able to transfigure a common rat!"

"Oi, calm down lady." A Slytherin boy yelled. His friends began to snicker loudly.

The professor narrowed her eyes. "While I may be a woman, I still have the power to give you detention. Now, Marrow, why don't you give a demonstration of our lesson."

"I'm sorry." Marrow said. "What was that? I don't speak witch."

"Good one." Professor McGonagall grudgingly admitted. While she was particularly offended and abashed she was still a reasonable woman and would inform you when your joke was particularly amusing. "Top marks."

Marrow grimaced. "I don't need help from a woman."

That was the final straw. With a flourish of her wand Marrow disappeared, leaving a stool in his place. McGonagall smiled, proud of herself. "Class, take note. It's a pine stool, a very cheap wood, like this boy." The class furiously began taking notes if only so they would not be turned into a rather sturdy looking stool.

Lily wondered if Marrow would ever be the same.

* * *

Marrow was a person by the end of class, a heavily traumatized one, but still a person nonetheless.

Lily packed her books quickly and went to search for Bethany. The person she really wanted to see was James, but he didn't like having her around and she didn't want to be a burden.

She walked through the grounds, having seen Bethany sitting under the shade of a tree. Once she was outside she saw a curious sight, James Potter and Sirius Black were sitting together. And laughing. She felt a wave of hurt, James had known the hateful words that Sirius had called her and yet there he was, laughing with Sirius of all people. Now Lily knew how little James really cared about her. She was right to say that their time wasn't worth remembering, it was worth nothing at all.

Bethany motioned her over and Lily took her place on the grass.

"You look ecstatic." Bethany commented.

"You just do these things to me, Beth."

Bethany grinned. "So I've been told."

"How are things with Peter?" Lily asked, eager for a change of topic.

It was Bethany's turn to grimace. "He's still upset over Indie and she doesn't seem much better. They're both being moody and I think it's about time for them to get over it." She rolled her eyes. "Really, they're adults. Why can't they just find a solution? Like firewhiskey, that's _my _favorite answer."

"We all know that you're a drunk." Lily said with a wave of her hand. "But can't you be more sympathetic?"

"To Indie?" Bethany snorted. "I don't think so." She shrugged. "What about you and James, have you realized that you love him?"

"What do you care?" Lily felt her temper flare.

"Calm down, I only asked a question."

Lily thought about it for a moment. She surely liked the way he touched her and the way he was ready at a moment's notice. But he didn't like her and she didn't want to be a bloody stupid girl and fall in love with him. And now he was purposely hurting her, he didn't care, not at all. She absolutely hated him for making her feel so weak.

"Absolutely not."

And she meant it.

* * *

James and Sirius had been joking for a while and James found himself thinking that they could really be good mates. But soon he found himself staring at Lily who was sitting with Bethany. Sirius followed his line of vision.

"Lily?" He asked. "You fancy her?"

James thought about it for a moment. He surely liked the way she made his heart beat faster and the way that she would say these things, these utterly stupid things, that only made him appreciate her more. But today she had gone out of her way to hurt him, saying that he didn't matter. She didn't care, not at all. And yet...if he didn't fancy her then how could he explain the erratic beating of his heart when she's near?

"Absolutely not."

And he didn't mean it.


	18. Slughorn: Resolved

**Chapter 18- Slughorn: Resolved**

Lily liked to wander the corridors when she was feeling particularly moody. Today happened to be one of those days. Her feet scraped across the floor in the most grating way as she weaved her way through the corridors.

She still wasn't speaking to Sirius, not that he was putting forward any effort anyway, she happened to be angry at Remus Lupin as well because he was off snogging Holly Everway, Lily's worst enemy, and James was still rather chummy with aforementioned Slytherin (who shall henceforth be known as He Who Must Not Be Named). It was all getting on her nerves because, really, why should a boy she cared so little about be affecting her like this?

Lily shook her head, damn her and her hormones. James was an idiot and she wouldn't bother herself with him because she had a very important task ahead of her. She would expose Professor Slughorn for the creepy pervert he was. Alright, maybe he wasn't exactly a pervert, but she hadn't done her potions homework and was in no mood for desk work.

She knew exactly how to draw him out of hiding.

"Merlin!" Lily yelled. "It's Celestina Warbeck, the famous witch!" When the middle aged wizard did not come out of hiding Lily cleared her throat. "The singer!"

"Oh, _that _Celestina Warbeck." Slughorn said escaping from behind the wall. "I taught her at Hogwarts, you know?" Lily had known, she did not think that there was anyone that he had not taught. Creep.

"Petrificus totalus, you weirdo!" Lily shouted pointer her wand at Slughorn who was too insanely old to react. "The ministry officials should be here soon." She blew on her wand like it was a steaming gun in one of those western films her dad always made her watch. "They've been keeping some great tabs on you." Slughorn's eyes, the only part of his body that could move, flashed wildly as if looking for an escape when he knew as vaguely as Lily did that his efforts were for naught.

The ministry officials were there in an instant. "Sorry it took so long." One said to Lily. "Ted," He jerked his thumb towards a figure on the floor. "decided that he just _had _to collapse on the way. I mean, the healers say he was dehydrated and we probably should give him water now, but what they don't understand is that we've got lives and Ted is expendable."

"Who is Ted?" Lily asked.

"Exactly." The official rolled his sleeves up. "Levicorpus." Then he winked at Lily. "Thanks for the help, I'll put a good word in if you ever want a job at the ministry."

She beamed. "Thanks." The official began walking away and all but one followed him.

This official had a dark head of hair and he was walking toward Lily. "Carnigan is just a janitor. He can't pull strings for shit." The man grinned. "Well, I'll be off, be sure to tell Dumbledore that we got the job done."

Lily was thoroughly elated that she did not have to do her potions homework.

* * *

Bethany's head hurt. At least that was the excuse she told herself as she made her way to the hospital wing. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she had heard a rumor that Peter would be there.

She grinned to herself. _Damn, who am I fooling? _Then she laughed because there was a war and she was in love with a boy who would never love her back.

Bethany wiped the grin off of her face. It was time to be serious, super serious.

Upon entering the hospital wing she threw herself onto the floor. "Miss Clarke!" An alarmed Madam Pomfrey yelled. "Are you alright?"

Bethany placed a hand to her forehead. "Oh, I'm feeling deathly ill!"

"What's wrong?"

She froze. Then bitterly thought that it was all Miss Albert's fault. If she had only given Bethany the lead in the play about communism that had begun developing in Antarctica then Bethany would not be such a bad actress or have such deep stage fright.

Bethany stood up, wiping her robes. Then she dramatically coughed. "Just give me a damn bed and I won't bother you."

"Excuse me, Miss Clarke, that is not the way to talk to-" So Bethany did the only thing she knew how to, she punched the hag in the face.

And that was why she was banned from the hospital wing.


	19. How to make friends

**Chapter 19- How to make friends (featuring James Potter, king of all that is Gryffindor)**

James was practically ambushed by Sirius when he went down to breakfast. Sirius thrust a piece of toast into James's hand and practically shoved him out of the great hall.

"What the-" James's protests were muffled when Sirius jammed another piece of toast into his mouth.

"Shut up, Potter." Sirius replied. "I just need your help." James muttered something unintelligible through the toast before trudging after Sirius.

James swallowed the last of his food. "What am I doing exactly?"

"I'm failing transfiguration. McGonagall said something about having six T's should have made me think to study, but now she's making some sketchy Ravenclaw tutor me."

"And what's that got to do with me?"

Sirius gave him an incredulous look. "Moral support."

"I can't believe your making me do this on a Sat-" He stopped speaking when he spotted Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew at a library table. Sirius sat down next to Peter and James took the remaining seat next to Remus.

"Lupin, right?" James asked even though he knew full well who Remus was. "And everyone knows who you are Peter."

Peter sent him an odd look. "Who are you?"

"Self righteous prick." Sirius muttered under his breath. "Doesn't even know the goddamn Gryffindor quidditch captain."

"James Potter." James said elbowing Sirius in the ribs who in turn keeled over and fell to the floor.

Peter tilted his head to the side. "Is he going to be alright?"

Remus managed a grimace. "He may have just died, but I can't be quite sure."

A cough was audible from under the table. "Smarmy git." Then a loud banging. "Ow! My head!"

"That's what he gets for calling me smarmy." Remus muttered under his breath, carefully stowing his wand back into his robes.

"Alright...transfiguration."

* * *

_"Did you see Sirius Black? He has mates now!"_

_"Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. Huh. Who would have thought?"_

_"I don't believe any of these rumours. James Potter would never be seen with them, he's too amazing."_

_"I heard his creepy mum is paying them. Ten galleons a week."_

_"Peter Pettigrew is a total babe."_

_"Sirius Black isn't a sexually ambiguous loner anymore?"_

_"Are they having some inter-house four way?"_

"Enough of that!" Shouted Professor McGonagall. "There will be no more talk of _any _fellow classmates." Immediately the class, and all of the gossip surrounding Sirius Black, was hushed.

Lily was angry. People were talking about Sirius making a friend as if he was some petulant five year old who finally stopped throwing blocks at other children. Maybe she was jealous that James, Remus, and Peter were getting recognition as Sirius's mates while she kept to the shadows, never telling anyone that Sirius was her friend.

She didn't hate him. He was crude, did not care about her feelings, and kept her a secret from everyone. In reality, she worried about him. In his own sick and twisted way he had lodged himself deep in her heart while she had yet to pass the layers of tissue covering his.

And then there was the issue of James. Thankfully he had not meant quite so much to her, but there was a sting of loss when she thought of him. She hated him. He betrayed her and she hated him for it.

Then why did her heart hurt?

* * *

"Would you quit turning Peter's hair various colours? He and you both are failing transfiguration!" Remus cried out in frustration.

"Sorry." Sirius grumbled slumping against his chair.

"You should be." Peter replied, touching his magenta locks with disdain.

"Well I'm never going to fix it with that attitude." Sirius said. "Now buck up and ask nicely, you _are _a Hufflepuff, aren't you."

"That's irrelevant." said Peter.

"Don't be an arse, Black." James commented cheerfully. "At least make it a colour he likes."

"Alright, Pete, what's your favourite colour?"

"Brown." He commented dryly. "Please." He added as an afterthought.

"There you go." And his hair was brown again.

James's mind drifted to Lily. Maybe if he caught up with her and found out why she was angry...

"No." He heard Sirius say.

"What?"

"You have that stupid look on your face. You're thinking about Lily. As her former mate I can tell you that she seems to be pissed at you."

James shrugged. "Well it doesn't take a genius to see that."

"Go get her." Peter shouted from the side.

"Shut up Peter." Remus kicked him in the shin. "Sorry about him. He's just very romantic ever since Indie turned down his-" Remus stopped when he was shoved by Peter.

"Right." James said. "Well, I've got to go."

"Don't do it." Sirius said.

"Do whatever you want." Remus muttered.

"Thanks for the support mate." He patted Remus on the shoulder and disappeared from the library.

"Now that we're alone-" Sirius began jokingly, looking at Remus.

Peter jerked his head up. "Hey, I'm still here!"

* * *

James found Lily fairly quickly considering the multitude of places she could have been. She was actually walking down an empty corridor, her rucksack swinging on her shoulder.

He seemed to forget why he was angry at her when he saw that flash of red hair and remembered the feeling of her mouth, and her hands, and just her in general.

Because really, what was he doing? Why was he avoiding Lily?

"Hey, Lily!" She paused, not turning to look at him until he was right in front of her.

His heart hammered in his chest. He loved her, what did it matter that she would never love him back? He would convince her he was worth it, that he wasn't just some popular prat who hadn't even known her name until a few months ago. He could be more than that.

"Sorry." He slammed his mouth against hers.


End file.
